No-Frills Recipes ... cooking, baking & excerpts on travel

It's the time of the year for mooncakes again and as in previous years, there seems to be a growing vast variety of mooncakes of different flavours.  This year, the Mid-Autumn or Mooncake Festival falls on 13th September, Friday.  The malls are all decorated with paraphenalia associated with the festival and sell special food at this time of the year. Snowskin yam paste mooncake  ~ 2019 ~ 芋头冰皮月饼) Ingredients for Yam Paste 500 gm yam 100 gm sugar 25 gm wheatstarch 1/8 tsp salt 70 ml vegetable oil (may require less) Method Peel yam, cut into slices and weigh out 500 gm.   Steam yam slices on medium heat for about 30 mins. till soft. Immediately mash up the yam slices while still hot (yam will harden once cooled) OR can use a handheld blender to blend.  (I used the latter). Pour the mashed yam into a non-stick pot, stir on low heat adding oil little by little.  Gradually add in sugar and salt.  All this while, keep st...

It's that time of the year once again and there are Mooncakes galore at all the shopping malls and supermarkets.  The Mid-autumn Mooncake festival falls  on 24th September, this year.  This round, I'm sharing with you mooncakes with homemade yam paste.  Homemade yam paste is moist and sugar level can be controlled.  These mooncakes do not have a 'waiting period'  which is   (  回油 )  and can be eaten on the day they are baked.  Best to consume within four days. Yam Paste Mooncake ~ 2018  ~  芋头月饼 Ingredients 500 gm yam 100 gm sugar 25 gm wheatstarch 1/8 tsp salt 70 ml vegetable oil (may require less) Method Peel yam, cut into slices and weigh out 500 gm.   Steam yam slices on medium heat for about 30 mins. till soft. Immediately mash up the yam slices while still hot (yam will harden once cooled) OR can use a handheld blender to blend.  (I used the latter). Pour the mashed yam i...

I bought this yam/taro from a wet market and the lady assured me that her yams are creamy when cooked.  She cut off a very small piece to justify her statement and true enough I saw some powdery substance on the knife.  It can be very frustrating when you end up getting a yam that's firm even when cooked for yams have a hardy taste with a minimal amount of sweetness.  But if you pair it up with some meat and fermented bean curd, the dish will be transformed into a tasty delicacy. Recipe for Braised Pork Ribs with Yam & Wood Ear Fungus Ingredients 750 gm Yam/Taro, peeled and cut into chunks 450 gm pork ribs, marinated with some seasalt 30 gm wood ear fungus, soaked, stemmed and cut into strips 2 pieces fermented beancurd (Nam Yue), mashed with some water 1 small knob ginger, smashed 5 cups water or more 1/2  tsp  dark soya sauce Salt and sugar to taste 2 tsp Shaoxing wine Method In a wok, saute th...

It's been quite a while since I made any buns.  Spotted some nice fresh looking yam at the market which gave me an idea for trying to make some yam paste.  Not so happy with the 'deceitful' nice looking yam as it wasn't that 'powdery' which resulted in my not so creamy yam paste.

I've a soft spot for yam and can't resist buying them from the market whenever I see fresh ones. Came up with this dish which I can easily have it on its own ....... I'll eat the yam first, the chicken is secondary.

T aro~Yam  is a versatile vegetable which has various derivative products after process.  It can be roasted, fried, grilled, boiled and here I'm presenting a bundt cake made with steamed and smashed yam.  Yes, I love yam served in any form and this tuber root is grown in semi-tropical and tropical climates all over the world.  Taro is high in dietary fibre, rich in vitamins E and B6, also an excellent source of potassium, some calcium, magnesium, manganese and copper.  This tuber is inedible raw and must be cooked through to leach out the calcium oxalate which is toxic.  In addition, because of its low caloric content, this makes it an ideal food for those who are conscious of their  waistline!

This dish is a simplified version of the 'Wu Tau Kow Yoke',  steamed pork belly sandwiched with yam.  I  tweaked it a bit too, because instead of pork belly I used pork ribs.  As I'm a yam or taro fan, I like yam  cooked in whatever fashion and I find this to be delicious too!

This is one of the must-have items whenever we go for have dim-sum ...... 'Wu Kok' or Yam dumplings.  Initially I had a hard time struggling with the soft and sticky dough in the hot and stuffy kitchen, but fortunately after chilling it in the fridge for 50 mins., it could be 'man-handled' quite easily!  Phew, not too bad as this is my first attempt!

We stopped by Tanjong Malim recently on the way to Kuala Lumpur and had dinner in this Son Wun Nam Restaurant.  Tanjong Malim is a small town, situated on the boundary between Perak state and Selangor state in West Malaysia. We ordered  3 dishes as there were only 3 of us and what struck me was the dishes were served on rather 'authentic', unchipped porcelain plates instead of melamine plates which are widely used in some restaurants. The restaurant's signature dish  ......'cooked' Garoupa fish fillet instead of steamed.  Actually, couldn't make out the difference whether it's 'cooked' or 'steamed'.  Quite a generous serving of fish fillet, tasted fresh and good.  Cost RM16.00 'Kau Yoke' ....... Braised pork belly with yam, not too bad, except that the pork belly was a bit fatty.    Cost RM15.00 Stir fry 'Kai Lan' or Mustard greens with garlic and oyster sauce  ....  not too oily but crunchy.  Cost RM7....

Cooked this Yam dish recently ...... the meat has assumed the colour of the yam, so it's pretty difficult to distinguish the meat from the yam pieces, but nonetheless,  this is a delicious dish, goes well with rice.